Quail VS. Chicken

[saddina]

You're not wearing the one that smells like feet and rotten fish again are you?!?!

 

[quiltnchik]

Quote:
If you're using them for food, why would you WANT them tame? Just curious... I couldn't make a pet of something and then eat it, but maybe that's just me and my hang-up...

 

[CARS]

I have laying hens, broilers, and quail. I do prefer the chickens over my A&M quail. They are just nuts when something, or should I say anything happens. Turn on a light they go nuts, feed them they go nuts, etc.

I sure hope that they taste as good as everyone says they do. We can butcher some next weekend.
The eggs are great and a conversation piece at a party. The little suckers take ALOT of time to peel though

I wonder what people would say if we used the quail eggs for deviled eggs???

As a little side note. I am brooding some of McMurry's "rarest of the rare" collection and those chickens are really hyper/nuts. So maybe when people talk about how calm chickens are compared to quail they should be comparing breeds. My leghorns are wilder than my Buffs. My sex-links are similar to the leghorns. Maybe since my Texas A&Ms are kinda "engineered" for production they are wilder than a regular cortnix?

 

[rachel]

No reason you can't have both. Despite the lengths of my lists, I probably like them both about equally.

Here's what I like about my quail:
-EXCELLENT feed conversion (approx 1 lb of eggs per 2 lbs of food where an efficient chicken would lay 1 lb of eggs per 3 lbs of food)
-Quick maturing, it's nice to wait 7 weeks for eggs instead of 20
-They don't need much space
-(For me) Way easier to butcher than a chicken, both physically and mentally
-Prettier noises than chickens, if you have neighbors they will probably prefer that you have quail

-I live in the city and can't have roosters, but I can have quail, so it's nice to have things I can breed on my own

My chickens:
-Friendlier a.k.a. more pet-like and fun to watch
-bigger eggs

 

[roche477]

I was just thinking about trying quail, but didn't know what purpose I would have for them. How much space do they need? How big do they get and what age are they eating size?

 

[CARS]

Quote:
This page has almost all the info you will need and gets updated regularly:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=102281

This one is good too: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=67823

 

[HobokenChickenEmergency]

I like quail better.

Like Rachel said, I can't have roosters either. It's nice to have the option of quail for breeding.

Plus quail are smaller, so I can have more. They need less square footage and don't need runs, so it's easier to house them.

They eat less per bird than my chickens do.

My quail eat out of my kids' hands, whereas the kids are a little intimidated by the chickens.

The 3 I have now are in my kitchen, so they're calmer being in a high traffic area. The only time I've seen them freak out yet was the first time our dog barked by the cage. Otherwise they go about their business. My cats' food is actually on top of their hutch, so the cats are constantly jumping up and down, and the quail don't seem to mind at all. They're also right next to the ferrets, so they're used to noise (although the ferrets DO spend a lot of time staring at the quail!).

I went through all kinds of time and money to get chickens (4 sets of hatching eggs to the tune of $45, incubating for 3 months straight, and getting not 1 chick out of the deal, finally breaking down and buying 6 RIR's for another $15, plus the coop remodel yet to be done), and now I think it was kind of a waste. If I'd known how much I'd like having quail, I would've skipped chickens altogether.

Anyone want some chickens?